What is the economic Trinity?

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The term "economic Trinity" (from the Greek oikonomia, meaning "arrangement" or "administration") does not appear by name in these writings — these authors speak in more Scriptural language of the distinct operations or distinctive expressions of each divine Person in the Godhead. But the concept they unfold is precisely what theology calls the economic Trinity: while the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-equal in nature and deity, each Person takes up a distinct role in God's dealings with creation and redemption. The Core Idea: Three Persons, Distinct Roles Morrish's Bible Dictionary defines the Trinity: "A word only used to convey the thought of a plurality of Persons in the Godhead. This was revealed at the baptism of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit descended 'like a dove' and abode upon Him; and God the Father declared 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.'... Yet there is but one God. 1 Tim. 2:5." Morrish's Bible Dictionary J. T. Mawson gives one of the clearest summaries of the distinct roles — the "economy" — of the three Persons: "The revelation of God is complete, and we know God now as Father, Son and Holy Ghost: three Persons yet one God." "The Father is the source of all blessing for men." "The Son has brought the blessing to men." "The Holy Ghost makes the blessing good in men." "And each person in the Godhead is engaged in making the revelation a reality in the souls of men." J. T. Mawson This is the heart of the economic Trinity: the Father plans and originates; the Son accomplishes and reveals; the Spirit applies and indwells. Distinct Expressions in Christianity A writer in The Bible Treasury (1878) unfolds how Christianity brought these distinct roles into full light: "Each of the divine persons in the eternal Godhead has, in connection with Christianity, obtained a blessedly distinctive expression, which never previously had any place in the revelations made to faith. The Father has been Himself revealed; the Son, as man, risen from the dead, has been glorified in heaven; and the Holy Ghost has for eighteen centuries been a dweller in the house of God upon earth, and in each member of the body of Christ." The Bible Treasury The same article describes the Spirit's threefold ministry — carrying forward what the Son accomplished: "(1.) 'He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' (John 14:26.)... (2.) 'Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.' (John 16:13.)... (3.) 'He will show you the things to come.'" And of how this links back to the Father: "'All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he [the Spirit of truth] shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.' (John 16:15.) Is there anything so dear to the Father as the person, the character, the ways, the work, the interests, the glories of Christ? In all this our fellowship is with the Father, which is only possible to us by possession of the Holy Ghost in person." Three Persons, One Work: Creation as Example A. J. Pollock shows the economic Trinity at work even in creation: "1 Corinthians 8:6, tells us God the Father is the source of creation." "Genesis 2:2, and Job 26:13, 'By His Spirit He has garnished the heavens' tells us God the Holy Spirit is the Creator." "Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3, tell that the Son of God was the Creator." "No contradiction in all this. If three members of a firm carried out a policy each member could claim he had carried it out, so long as he did not claim this exclusively." A. J. Pollock Equal in Nature, Distinct in Office Pollock insists that the distinct roles do not imply inequality: "We must be very careful not to place the Persons in our minds as in order of importance. There have been some of late who have put dishonour on our blessed Lord by declaring that He, the Son, was in the nature of things inferior to His Father, and that in face of the Scripture, 'That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father' (John 5:23)." "The Father is God; the Son is God; the Spirit is God — the Spirit equal in nature and substance to the Father and the Son. If the three Persons of the Godhead are each of them God, it does not follow that there are three Gods. That were impossible." The Sending of the Spirit: The Economy in Action Pollock traces how the sending of the Spirit itself reveals the Trinity operating in distinct but harmonious roles: "In chapter 14 we read, 'The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the FATHER will send in My name.' Here the Father sends the Holy Spirit. In chapter 15:26, we read, 'But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send from the Father.' There our Lord sends the Holy Spirit. In chapter 16:13 we read, 'Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth IS COME.' Here we have the Spirit of God coming, not as sent in this passage by the Father or the Son, but, as it were, of His own volition. In all this we see the oneness of God, the three Persons of the Trinity acting in harmony, so much so that the descent of the Holy Spirit can be equally, though not exclusively, attributed to each Person of the Godhead." Three Persons, One Divine Glory J. G. Bellett writes of how Scripture unfolds the Trinity not only formally but morally — in its grace and power: "We are baptized 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' (Matt. 28:19). This carries with it the formal declaration of the mystery of the Godhead; the Son being a divine Person, as is the Father, and as is the Holy Ghost." "It appertains to other scriptures to give us the same mystery (that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three Persons in the one divine glory or Godhead), in other and more moral ways; showing it in its grace and power, and in its application to our need, our life, and our edification." J. G. Bellett Synthesis The economic Trinity is the truth that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — co-equal in nature, co-eternal in being — take up distinct roles in all of God's dealings with men. The Father is the source — the one from whom blessing originates. The Son is the one who accomplishes — who came into the world, revealed the Father, and achieved redemption by His blood. The Holy Spirit is the one who applies — dwelling in believers, making the work of Christ real in their souls, and leading them into fellowship with the Father. As Mawson put it so simply: the Father for men, the Son to men, the Spirit in men. This pattern runs through creation (the Father as source, the Son as agent, the Spirit as finisher), through redemption (the Father sends, the Son atones, the Spirit seals), and through the whole of the believer's life (the Father reveals Himself through the Son by the power of the Spirit). The three Persons are perfectly one in will and nature, yet each has taken a distinct place — and it is this distinct arrangement, this divine "economy," that unfolds the full glory of who God is.

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